The latest in the Seedbank series, the debut in English of a groundbreaking Indigenous poet of the Americas.
In a fiercely personal yet authoritative voice, prolific contemporary poet Mikeas Sįnchez explores the worldview of the Zoque people of southern Mexico. Her paced, steely lyrics fuse cosmology, lineage, feminism, and environmental activism into a singular body of work that stands for the self and the collective in the same instant. I am woman and I celebrate every vein, she writes, where I guard my ancestors secrets / every Zoque mans word in my mouth / every Zoque womans wisdom in my spit.
How to Be a Good Savage and Other Poems examines the intersection of Zoque struggles against colonialism and empire, and those of North African immigrants and refugees. Sįnchez encountered the latter in Barcelona as a revelation, spreading their white blankets on the ground / as if theyll soon return to sea / flying the sail of the promised land / the land that became a mirage. Other works bring us just as close to similarly imperiled relatives, ancestors, gods, and archetypal Zoque men and women that Sįnchez addresses with both deeply prophetic and childlike love.
Coming from the only woman to ever publish a book of poetry in Zoque and Spanish, this timely, powerful collection pairs the bilingual originals with an English translation for the first time. This book is for anyone interested in poetry as knowledge, proclaimed with both feet squarely set on ancient ground.
The How to Be a Good Savage and Other Poems audiobook read by Mikeas Sįnchez, Wendy Call, and Shook is available everywhere you listen to audiobooks.
Recenzijos
Praise for How the Be a Good Savage and Other Poems
In How to Be a Good Savage and Other Poems, Macys store windows and buildings like dark, silent tombs share space with sacred mountains and flowers that teach newborns to speak. [ . . .] [ Sanchezs] writing is compelling in part because she manages to simultaneously honor and challenge traditions her own and those of others presenting a Zoque worldview in dialogue with global ecology, feminism and modernity writ large.Benjamin Samuels, New York Times Book Review
As the first woman to ever publish a book of poetry in Zoque, a language spoken in Southern Mexico, and Spanish, this poetry collection encompasses colonialism, lineage, and the balance to embrace ancestral roots and the present. Powerful and lyrical, this collection is unlike anything other collection of poems Ive read before.Lupita Aquino, The Today Show
In a fiercely personal yet authoritative voiceMikeas Sįnchez explores the worldview of the Zoque people of southern Mexico[ ] How to Be a Good Savage and Other Poems examines the intersection of Zoque struggles against colonialism and empire, and those of North African immigrants and refugees. [ . . .] Coming from the only woman to ever publish a book of poetry in Zoque and Spanish, this timely, powerful collection pairs the bilingual originals with an English translation for the first time."Latin American Literature Today
How to Be a Good Savage and Other Poems is not simply another poetry collection. Its pages are, notably, a means of cultural and linguistic preservation, and each and every poem is call for attention to and awareness of the cultures, beliefs, and peoples colonialism has long displaced and overshadowed.Nicole Yurcaba, Tupelo Quarterly
In a fiercely personal yet authoritative voice, prolific contemporary poet Mikeas Sįnchez explores the worldview of the Zoque people of southern Mexico. Her paced, steely lyrics fuse cosmology, lineage, feminism, and environmental activism into a singular body of work that stands for the self and the collective in the same instant.Philly Chapbook Review
Praise for the Seedbank Series
Milkweeds Seedbank series is one of the most exciting and visionary projects in contemporary publishing. Taking the long view, these volumes run parallel to the much-hyped books of the moment to demonstrate the possibility and hope inherent in all great literature.Stephen Sparks, Point Reyes Books
Through its cultural-linguistic contribution to narrative diversity, Milkweed's Seedbank series is a vital tool in imagining the futures possible for humanity beyond the anthropocene. Bringing works from Greek, K'iche', German, Russian (and more!) whose authors are deeply rooted in their homelands, each voice encountered has resonated with me on a seemingly cellular levelshifting and changing both who I am and can be. I will continue to press these books into the hands of compassionate readers and cannot wait to share the forthcoming titles in the project!Erin Pineda from 27th Letter Books
Milkweed as a publishing house has long been championing literary works both fictitious and true to life centered around culture, nature, and environmentalism. The Seedbank series serves as both a marvelous introduction to the books Milkweed provides and as a collection of essential stories that ought to be on everyone's radar. The words behind these front covers highlight life-changing experiences, knowledge, and ways of life from communities that are seldom otherwise heard from in the publishing world through an authentic cultural lens. What I've read from the Seedbank line is phenomenal, and I look forward to spending time with future works in the series.Andrew King from Secret Garden Books
Daugiau informacijos
Physical galley quantities available for the PGW sales force, major media, poetry media, translation media, environmental media, booksellers and librarians; digital galley available for download on Edelweiss Galley campaign to influential Spanish-speaking and Indigenous authors, writers, and reviewers Major advertising campaign in Emergence Magazine Promotional partnership with CALIBA and SIBA with targeted advertising and promotions to California and Southern booksellers and readers Digital marketing through the publisher to communities of more than 50K readers and buyers, with special push to academic market for course adoption Digital marketing through the publisher to promote the Seedbank series Major events in Los Angeles and Seattle
Introduction by Jake Skeets
Note on the Translations
Oreyomo
Oreyomo
Oreyomo
Wejpäjkiuy
Nombrar las cosas
To Name Things
Mojkjäyä
Mokaya
Mokaya
Tumjama maka mujsi
Y sabrįs un dķa
And One Day You Will Know
Te kojama wirupa jurä nitiyä ji nhtä manemä
El alma retorna al grito del silencio
The Soul Returns to Silences Cry
Aisha
Aisha
Aisha
Rama
Rama
Rama
Mumure nhtä yäjktampä
Todos somos cimarrones
Were All Maroons
Nereydais myapasyiäyu nhwyt NewYork
Nereyda se sońó en New York
Nereyda Dreamed in New York
[ ”Jä! te kakuy myojnapyapäis mij nhkojso]
[ ”Ay! de la muerte que te cubre los pies]
[ Ay! From the death that covers your feet]
[ Maka mini te kakuy / tese maka mpyiare mij änhkuyomo]
[ Llegarį la muerte / y te encontrarį en tu cama]
[ Death will arrive / and find you in your bed]
[ Maka mini te kakuy / te wiyunhsepä]
[ Llegarį la muerte / la verdadera]
[ Death will arrive / the true one]
[ Wäkä nhtä jampää te toya]
[ Que para olvidar el dolor]
[ May just one prayer]
[ Äkyajpapä temäjk kätpamä te jama teserike te tzu]
[ Los que duermen mįs allį del dķa y la noche]
[ Those who sleep beyond day and night]
[ Mujspatzi nyitzäjkpak teserike yajpak te jama]
[ En el inicio y la culminación del dķa sé]
[ At beginning and end of each day I know]
[ Tumä jama tumä pänis]
[ Un dķa un hombre]
[ One day a man]
Jesukristois ja nyiäjktyiäjya äj tzumamais Kyonukskuy
Jesucristo no entendió jamįs los ruegos de mi abuela
Jesus Never Understood My Grandmothers Prayers
Wanhjampatzi yomnhkomi nyiäyipäis Soledad
Mi Virgen se llama soledad
My Virgins Named for Solitude
Nhtä nhtzamä ore sasyapyä tire
Ser zoque es un privilegio
To Be Zoque Is a Privilege
Päjkinhtzyokiuy mokayapätkoroya
Recibimiento del hombre mokaya
Reception for a Mokaya Man
Päjkinhtzyiokyuy mokayayomokoroya
Recibimiento de la mujer mokaya
Reception for a Mokaya Woman
Aj jarais tziupä
Mi padre me dio un regalo
My Father Gave Me a Gift
Wewe
Wewe
Wewe
Tzokotzyame
Pensar con el corazón
Thinking with Our Hearts
Wäkä jana tyiujanämä nijppyajpak
Para que no llueva el dķa de tu entierro
So It Wont Rain on Your Burial Day
Wenhti
Ofrenda
Gift
Tumä une mapasyiäpya
Un nińo sueńa
A Child Dreams
Jujtzyie nhtä wäpä tzamapänhajä
Cómo ser un buen salvaje
How to Be a Good Savage
Te meke
El festķn
Feast
Mapasyiäpyatzi yäjkpäwakas
Sońando con un toro negro
Dreaming of a Black Bull
Pistinh
Ceiba
Ceiba
Mäja kupkuyomo Saspalankisyuneram jätyiampatzi
Los hijos de Saspalanki lloramos en la gran ciudad
Saspalankis Children Cry in the Big City
Sonerampäte
Somos Millones
We Are Millions
Näpyajpa, Mokayaram maka yajpäyae
Dicen que los Mokayas nos extinguiremos
They Say the Mokayas Will Go Extinct
Jujtzyiere
æCuįnto vale?
What Is It Worth?
Tä mokayaramte
Somos mokayas
We Are Mokayas
Mokaya, kämanä
Escucha, mokaya
Listen, Mokaya
Maka tä wyrurame nhtä tunhomo
Volveremos al camino
Returning to the Path
Notes on the Poems
Acknowledgments
Mikeas Sįnchez is the author of How to Be a Good Savage and Other Poems. She is one of the most important poets of the Indigenous Americas, working in Zoque, a language spoken in southern Mexico. She is the only woman to have ever published a book of poetry in that language. Her six volumes of poetryincluding Mokaya / Mojk'Jäyä and Mumure' tä' yäjktambä / Todos somos cimarronesare all bilingual Spanish-Zoque. Sįnchezs work has been translated into Bangla, Catalan, English, German, Italian, Maya, Mixe, and Portuguese. In Chiapas, Mexico, she was awarded first place in the Y el Bolóm dice . . . Prize for Fiction as well as the Pat Otan Prize for Indigenous Poetry. Sįnchez is a radio producer, translator, community health promoter, and defender of Zoque lands. She lives in Ajway, Chiapas.
Wendy Call is co-editor of Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers Guide and Best Literary Translations, author of the award-winning No Word for Welcome, and translator of two collections of poetry by Mexican-Zapotec poet Irma Pineda: In the Belly of Night and Other Poems and Nostalgia Doesnt Flow Away Like Riverwater. Her literary projects have been supported by Artist Trust, the Fulbright Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Call serves on the faculty of the Rainier Writing Workshop MFA program and lives in Seattle, on Duwamish land, and in Oaxaca, Mexico, on Mixtec and Zapotec land.
Shook is a poet, translator, and editor whose work has spanned a wide range of languages and places. Their writing has appeared in Poetry, World Literature Today, the Guardian, and many other publications, as well as being translated into more than a dozen languages, including Isthmus Zapotec, Kurdish, and Uyghur. Since founding Phoneme Media in 2013, Shook has edited and published translations from over thirty-five languages. Today they direct Kashkul Books, a publishing project based in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, as well as the translation-focused imprint avión at Gato Negro Ediciones in Mexico City. They reside at Newt Beach in Northern California.
